


Missing: One Code Monkey (with Legs for Days)

by Asylos



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Kidnapping, M/M, Memory Alteration, Non graphic violence, Vague Mentions of Non Con (Not Jack)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 18:29:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14836937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asylos/pseuds/Asylos
Summary: Rhys is damn good at his job. Jack’s noticed, it’s one of the reasons he started calling him up to visit (besides his sweet ass), but someone else has too. Someone who just can’t understand why someone would chose to work for Hyperion when given a better offer. Unfortunately for them, Rhys is very much a Hyperion man.





	Missing: One Code Monkey (with Legs for Days)

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to my beloved Fish friend, who was subjected to reading this scene by scene as it was written in scraps of time over many days. Posted as part of RhackJune.

The first thing Jack did when he got back was call Rhys. The last two weeks had been a hell of a time and he really needed some stress relief. When the man didn’t answer his calls, he got pissed. The damn phone was plugged into his head, there was no excuse not to pick up. It was another couple days before his anger smouldered into concern, and he went looking. 

“Hey muscles, where the hell is legs?”

Vaughn nearly spit out his drink as Jack walked up to the table he was eating at with Yvette. “Umm, we assume dead? We thought you spaced him.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Henderson said one of the guards came to get him last week, said you wanted to see him. When he didn’t come back, he figured you’d spaced him.”

“I’ve been planet side for the last two weeks, so that’s kind of not possible. You want to give me another theory?”

The colour drained from Vaughn’s face. “If that’s the case... my best bro has been missing for a week and I haven’t even tried to find him.”

“Well, time to change that. Come on.”

Vaughn had never been in Jack’s office. He had no reason to he, and with the CEO’s habit of murdering and airlocking people who visited the office, he didn’t really want to be summoned to it. Now that he was in it, well, he couldn’t really think of a nicer place to die. 

“Quit gawking and sit down.” Jack sat at the desk and switched on the screen, quickly scrolling through menus. “So when did this happen?”

“Uhh, Tuesday. Right before lunch,” Vaughn supplied as he took a seat in the guest chair. “We were supposed to meet for lunch.”

“I don’t really care about your boring plans, just need to know when to pull the camera footage from.”

Vaughn glanced around nervously as Jack focused on the screen. “Please don’t space me for asking, but, why do you care? I mean sure he’s my best bud and pays half the rent, but he’s just a programmer. I don’t understand why you’re interested.”

Jack glanced past the screen. “He really didn’t tell you. Good boy.” He leaned closer. “Have you ever looked at the ass on top of those legs? Oh don’t bother lying, I’m sure you have. It’s hard not to.” Jack chuckled as the look of denial turned to a reluctant nod. “That ass, is mine. And I quite enjoy sticking my dick in it.”

“I.. I did not need to know that.”

Jack shrugged, “You asked.” He glanced back at the screen. “Ah, here we go.” He spun it around so Vaughn could see the footage. It was the inside of an elevator. Rhys was clearly nervous, standing facing the door with the unknown guard behind him. The guard moved, pressing something into Rhys’ back, and his friend slumped over into the guard’s arms. The door opened and he half carried, half dragged the unconscious man out. 

“Did someone kidnap Rhys because you two are..” Vaughn asked. 

Jack shook his head. “If you didn’t know, I doubt anyone did.” He frowned at the screen. “You two lived together, was he acting weird?”

Vaughn thought about it for a few minutes. Jack started to get impatient, eyeing him over his folded hands. “Not really? He was pretty happy actually. He’d found some big issue with some deal that was being looked at and apparently Henderson was super happy about it.”

“The Maliwan deal? He found that?”

Vaughn nodded. “He was joking about getting job offers from them afterwards.”

Jack raised an eyebrow at that and started typing again. It didn’t take long to hack into Rhys’ company email. He had built the system after all. Sure enough, there were multiple messages from a Maliwan address in the trash bin. All had been replied to with a short “Thank you but I am not looking for new employment.” The sender had gotten less professional as the week went on, trying to convince Rhys that Hyperion wasn’t a safe workplace and that he’d get hurt staying there. Rhys’ reply never changed. “Alright, get out muscles. I’m done with you.”

“What?”

“Get out. Or do you want me to shoot you?”

Vaughn shook his head and scrambled out of the chair and out the door. 

Jack sighed and looked over the screen again. “What have you gotten yourself into, pumpkin...”

—-

If Rhys didn’t know better, he’d have thought he’d broken this program himself. It had his particular style to the damage. But why would he sabotage his own work? Especially so close to the deadline. Was it possible he was doing it in his sleep? Some side effect from the accident? He rubbed his eyes with his flesh hand and used the other to make an appointment with the doctor. If nothing else, he needed something to keep him awake until this project was done. The dreams had really been getting to him. 

“They’re not nightmares,” he explained as he leaned back on the soft couch. “Not really. The dreams are good. I just.. feel so sad when I wake up, you know? Like something is missing.”

Doctor Mortimer nodded and scribbled something on his notepad. “Do you remember any details from these dreams?”

Rhys nodded, a slight colour rising in his cheeks.

“Oh,” the doctor said, “that kind of dream. Well I can see why you’d be disappointed waking up from that.”

“I can never remember his face, though. I’m not sure if it would be better or worse if I could.” He turned to look at the doctor. “What if it’s someone I work with? How awkward would that be the next day.”

The doctor chuckled. “Or it could be the start of something.”

Rhys pondered that, chewing thoughtfully on his bottom lip. “No, I don’t think it’s a coworker. Or at least, not anyone I’m working with directly. Mind you, my team seems to change every couple days, which is annoying. I can’t believe we have such a high turnover. I mean, how am I supposed to get anything done when I keep having to redo the work.”

Doctor Mortimer’s alarm started to beep and Rhys sighed. “Out of time already?” 

The doctor nodded, “We can meet again tomorrow if you want. Just message me. In the meantime,” he rummaged in his cabinet for a moment, “you can have these. The red ones will help you stay awake, if that’s what you want, and the blue ones will help you sleep, without the dreams. Obviously don’t take both at the same time. And don’t forget to keep snacking. We don’t want a repeat of last time. You need to take better care of yourself. You’re still recovering.”

Rhys nodded and took the offered packages of pills. “I know, I know. It’s hard when there’s so much work to do. It’ll be better once this project is out the door.”

—

Handsome Jack was not happy. In fact, he was so far into his rage that people thought he was acting downright cheery. His receptionist, smart girl that she was, immediately booked the week off once she saw him walk towards the office with a wide grin on his face. 

It had taken a couple days, and a few favours called in, but he’d gotten a back door into the computer of the person who had been messaging Rhys. He had explored the stranger’s files for a couple hours, casually saving some industrial secrets, before he came across the folder that had pushed him over the edge. 

The text files held simple information that he’d already guessed at; they had discovered the identity of the Hyperion staff member who had cost them their deal, and decided that they could use a programmer good enough to find their mistakes /before/ it was late enough to jeopardize their success. They had been surprised to be turned down. Someone had the bright idea that meeting Rhys in person, showing him how much better things could be, would make the difference. Things escalated from there. 

Rhys had refused, which Jack never doubted would happen. Then someone got another bright idea. Maybe they could get some Hyperion secrets out of him and get a head start. While a bruised and bloody Rhys was a frequent source of entertainment for Jack, he only felt that way when he was the cause, and he knew the kid wanted it. The pictures he found saved on the stranger’s computer set off every possessive nerve in Jack. Someone, likely multiple someones by the look of the damage, had put their hands on his Rhys. They’d gotten nowhere. Jack’s heart swelled a bit with pride at that. Rhys was /his/, and he would never betray him, no matter the cost. As broken as they had left his body, they had gained nothing for it. 

And then, giving up on that avenue, a third bright idea popped up in someone’s tiny brain, and this one, this one was the shell that broke the skag’s face. They had plugged a semi-intelligent program into the ECHO port of his little Rhys. A program whose sole purpose was to make Rhys forget Hyperion. To convince him he worked for Maliwan instead. A program that would erase Jack from his memory. 

It had not gone well at first, the logs showed. In fact, they had lost six months of work on various projects when the new Rhys was allowed into their system and started wreaking havoc, after something triggered a memory that the program couldn’t keep up to suppress. 

Unfortunately, he hadn’t managed to discover where they were keeping him, so it was on to plan B. He would invite them to Helios. 

—-

“You shouldn’t have brought him here. This is a terrible idea,” Doctor Mortimer said to the Maliwan executive seated next to him. 

“What is?” Rhys asked, walking in on the tail end of the conversation with his freshly obtained glass of water. 

“Ah, Rhys. I was just concerned about bringing you to such a busy place so soon after the accident. I’m worried about the strain on your health.”

“I feel fine,” Rhys said with a shrug. “Though I don’t know why you’re bringing a lowly programmer along to this meeting, I won’t complain since this is practically a vacation after trying to get this thing done. Helios is a lot more interesting than the labs.” His eye twitched a bit, and the doctor frowned. 

The doctor gestured to the chair beside him, and Rhys took it. “Have something to eat. You need the calories. That little brain of yours is very demanding.”

“Little? I feel insulted. This ‘little brain’ made the product you’re so happy to be selling to Hyperion here.” His eye twitched again, and the doctor pushed the plate of food in front of him. 

“Eat, and take your medication. You’ll need it.”

Rhys chewed on his mouthful of sandwich, “I told you, I feel fine. Besides, it’s not like I have to do any talking.” He swallowed the food and had a sip of his drink. “Do you know why I can’t connect to the ECHOnet?”

“Why? Was there something you needed?”

“No, just seemed like a good way to take a look around since you don’t want me wandering off. Hotel gets kinda boring after an hour. The ceiling doesn’t even have divots to count.”

“Guests aren’t allowed on the local system,” the doctor suggested. 

“That seems kind of stupid, considering all the tourist traps. I heard the maid talking about this ‘Hub of Heroism’ place. It sounds amazing.” Rhys winced, and rubbed his temple next to his ECHOport. 

“Headache?”

Rhys nodded. 

“See, the excitement is already getting to you. Take your medication and go lay down till the meeting.” 

“Yeah..” Rhys said, taking the offered pills. He was asleep as soon as he made it to the bed. 

—-

Jack picked the conference room for this meeting very specifically, and he took a small bit of pleasure in explaining to Vaughn that it was the first one he had fucked Rhys in. 

“Do I need to be here? Cause I am learning things I really don’t want to know,” Vaughn said as he helped organize the chairs around the table. 

“Just shut up and sit down, muscles. I want as many familiar things as possible to screw with their program.” 

“Then why not bring Yvette too?”

Jack paused from setting out the Handsome Jack commemorative glasses. “Is that her name? To be perfectly honest muscles, she’s just not important enough to remember. You? You have cockblocked me on several occasions by virtue of sharing living space with my Rhysie, so you, I remember.”

Vaughn shut his mouth, sat down, and counted his blessings that he had lived this long. 

When everything was ready, Jack took his seat at the head of the table and they waited. 

The Maliwan executive was noticeably confused when the group entered the room. He quickly made his expression as neutral as he could and took a seat, indicating to Rhys to sit beside him, and the doctor took the seat on the other side of Rhys. 

Rhys looked around the room in amazement. His eyes moved past Jack, refusing to stay focused on him, and Jack noticed the twitch with a grin. 

“Well, pumpkin?” Jack said, “shall we get started?”

The Maliwan exec was starting to protest being called such a familiar name when he noticed his gun being pulled from its holster at his side. He turned to figure out what was happening and screamed as the bullet went through his knee. His eyes welled up with tears from the pain as he watched Rhys turn to the doctor and strike him across the face with the gun. 

A blue figure began to form behind Rhys. “Good work, cupcake. Go ahead and get some sleep. Daddy will take things from here.” The hologram solidified and took the gun as Rhys set his head down on the table and closed his eyes. 

“The hell?” Jack said. 

HoloJack whistled. “I thought I might just be an exaggeration but the kid’s memory was pretty dead on. I am hot!” He shot the executive in the other knee, then sat on the table. “I am really torn between killing you myself or letting the ‘real Jack’ do it. I mean, I think I’ve earned it, but at the end of the day, I’ll be erased when your irritating program is removed and won’t get to live with the fond memories of tearing you apart.”

The doctor groaned as he started to recover. HoloJack glanced over at him. “And you, Doctor Mortimer. You’re not bleeding on the floor from multiple bullet wounds for two reasons and two reasons alone. One, I need you to safely disconnect the drive you’ve got plugged into my Rhysie, and two, you had the good sense to lie to this shit stain bleeding out over here and not program everything he wanted into this set up.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the doctor said quietly, but there was no conviction in his voice. 

“Every time you plugged Rhys in to update your program, you shut him down. But you couldn’t shut me down, didn’t even know I was there, so I had free reign of your terminal. I know what he asked for, and I know what he did instead when you said no. Luckily for everyone, Rhys trusts me so I’m better at deleting memories than your program. Rhys isn’t going to have to live with those experiences on top of the rest of what you put him through.”

“I could use a little update on who the hell you are,” Jack said, finally deciding this had gone on long enough. There was some hologram wearing his face and he wanted to know why. “There wasn’t anything in the logs about creating an AI of me.”

HoloJack nodded. “I was just a happy accident. The doctor’s program was smart. It had to be, in order to select what thoughts to hide and which to let go so they’d still have a functioning Code Monkey . But it could only work with the information it was given, and the good doctor didn’t know that Rhys had actually met Handsome Jack. It just couldn’t understand why he’d be clinging to those memories so hard. It pushed all those memories into one spot, and used its amazing logic to create me, so it could ask. And oh boy did it regret it. Too bad I’m better than it is.” HoloJack smirked. “It couldn’t get rid of me once it made me so I got to work, keeping things fresh so every time these idiots slipped up and the program faltered, Rhys was ready to break things. It was kinda fun, really.”

“Alright, that’s an awful lot of exposition and not enough shooting,” Jack said. “I think we’ve heard enough. Muscles, get out of here.”

Vaughn looked over at Rhys, then back to the two Jacks, and ran for the door. 

“Doc, pop out that drive, in a way that’s not going to cause more damage.” Jack pulled out his own gun and kept it aimed at the guests. 

HoloJack nodded and slid his borrowed gun across the table. He ran his fingers through Rhys’ hair and kissed him on the top of the head. “Go ahead Doc, I’m ready. Jack’s got this.”

The doctor pulled a device from his pocket and slotted it into the drive that was plugged into Rhys’ ECHOport. It attached to the drive, and pulled it out with it. HoloJack vanished the moment the drive was free. Rhys let out a soft sigh and shifted slightly, but didn’t wake up. 

“Give it to me,” Jack said. 

The doctor stepped tentatively toward Jack. Jack waved the gun to tell him to hurry up. Once the doctor had dropped the drive into Jack’s hand, Jack shot him, just once, straight through the head. He pocketed the drive and called security to come collect the executive. He could deal with him later, when he had the time to really put his heart into it. 

He lifted Rhys up, and carried him to the elevator, heading up to his private quarters. Once there, he tucked him into bed and curled up next to him, holding him tight. He’d let him wake up on his own, and then catch up on the last month of time spent apart. 

 

—-

Rhys blinked his eyes open slowly, until his brain caught up with the sudden panic of not being where he remembered and of a weight on his chest holding him down. 

“You’re safe, pumpkin. Go back to sleep, it’s still early.”

He sighed in relief, relaxed into the arms holding him and happily did as he was told. 

When he woke again it was to the panic of being alone, but at least he recognized where he was, slowly. Only Handsome Jack would have so many statues of himself in their bedroom. (Though if Rhys had the space in his far too small shared apartment, and Vaughn hadn’t vetoed it...)

Rhys had only been to Jack’s private rooms once before. Generally they met up in his office. He glanced over at the nightstand and saw a bottle of water, a wrapped sandwich, and a handwritten note. 

~Stay put. There’s an emergency button under the front edge of the nightstand in case of emergency. We’ll get you on the ECHOnet when I get back, didn’t want to wake you.~

He grabbed the supplies, rummaged around for the TV remote, and moved to the middle of bed. He arranged the pillows into a cozy nest against the headboard and settled in. 

When he pressed the power button on the remote, the giant screen across from the bed lit up, the cupboard doors that had hid it sliding up to the ceiling. There was nothing he really wanted to watch on TV, but the noise was comforting. The crushing pressure that had plagued his mind during his captivity was gone now that the memory altering program was removed, and the silence was unfamiliar. 

Sandwich eaten, he curled up and went back to sleep with the sound of Hyperion infomercials in the background. It was the only thing he could to do besides wait for Jack to come back, and he couldn’t argue that he was mentally exhausted. 

—

The lights in Jack’s office were dimmer than he usually had them, but it helped make the hologram stand out a bit more. He sat on his chair with his hands steepled in front of him on the desk. “So.”

HoloJack patted himself down, “I’m still here. Where ever here is. It’s too quiet. Where’s Rhys?”

“Sleeping.”

“Is that asswipe dead yet?”

“No,” Jack said, “I thought we could talk first, before I decide what to do.”

“With him or with me?”

“Both. You’re not a real copy, are you?”

HoloJack shook his head, “I’m built of memories of you, so I only know what Rhys knows, or thought, and what’s public on the ECHOnet.”

“And what would happen if I plugged you into my terminal, with my personal logs, could you update?”

HoloJack looked at him thoughtfully, “You want a more accurate AI version of you? Why?”

“Just answer the question.”

“Yeah, probably. I’d still not be a real copy, I have my own memories.”

Jack nodded. “Well then, first things first. Tell me everything you know, and maybe you can help me take out the trash.”

The grin that spread across HoloJack’s face was like looking into a mirror. “I like that idea. But are you sure you want to know? You’re not going to be happy.”

“The future dead man is sitting in a cell waiting for us, so we’ll have plenty of time to work out that unhappiness before going home.”

HoloJack sat on the chair, as much as a hologram can actually sit. “Some of this is before I existed, so it’s just memories I accessed. Believe me, things would have gone differently if I had been there.”

“No doubt. And you deleted these memories?”

“Just certain parts. We... we talked about it first. There was more than enough to remember why he was angry without needing that icing on top.“

It took the better part of an hour for HoloJack to recount everything that had happened, and Jack could feel his rage boiling at the back of his throat like bile. He was very glad he would have something to take it out on. HoloJack had been worried Jack would look down on or reject Rhys for the things that had been done to him, but Jack knew that the AI was just reacting to how Rhys viewed it with his low self confidence. He was not the guilty party. The guilty would be very much punished.

And Jack was very proud of the damage Rhys had done on the rare occasions he had full control of his thoughts. HoloJack related fondly the story of warehouse 9, which Rhys had vented into space after someone’s casual mention of Jack caused the program suppressing him to stutter under the flood of memories. 

When they had finished talking, Jack transferred HoloJack to a portable projection device. The pair headed down to the cells, and left a mess for janitorial to mop down the drain. 

Feeling much better, especially after a quick swing by the shower, Jack plugged the AI into his terminal and let him update. HoloJack took some time merging Jack’s records into his own memories and personality. Jack transferred the AI back onto the ECHO drive and headed home. 

——

Rhys was asleep when Jack got home, curled up in the middle of the bed, drooling on the pillows. Jack smiled fondly at him before crawling over the bed to climb onto the sleeping man. “Good morning, cupcake.”

“Mmmm.. Jack,” Rhys mumbled sleepily. “You’re back.”

“Of course. Couldn’t stay away too long with such a prize waiting for me.”

Rhys smiled and rolled over onto his back so they were face to face. “I missed you.”

Jack caressed Rhys’ cheek with the back of his hand. “It won’t happen again.” He slipped the ECHO drive into the port.

Rhys blinked up at him in confusion as his system told him something was running an update. “What are you doing?”

“Relax, kitten. It’s just me. Now I’ll always be able to look out for you.” Rhys turned his head to see HoloJack lounging on the bed beside them. 

Jack pulled the drive back out once HoloJack nodded to indicate the transfer was complete. He tossed the drive in the bedside bin. It was empty now. 

Jack kissed Rhys’ forehead. “Tomorrow, you’re back to work, but you’re relocating. You’ll be working with me, as my PA.”

Rhys frowned, “I’m a programmer Jack. That’s a bit of a downgrade, no offence.”

“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll still be programming. You’ll just be doing it from /my/ office and working on /my/ projects. And getting my coffee, while wearing a short skirt to show off those legs.” Jack grinned and Rhys laughed. He tried to swat at Jack but Jack grabbed his wrist and pinned it to the bed before biting down on his neck. “And the skirt makes office quickies so much easier.”

—-  
Rhys woke alone again. Or at least, he would have if HoloJack wasn’t sitting on the edge of the bed watching him. “You’re being creepy,” Rhys said. 

“Sorry pumpkin,” HoloJack said with a shrug, “It’s boring when you’re asleep.”

Rhys frowned. “I’ve got ECHOnet back. Can’t you just ... I don’t know, surf the net or something?” He took a moment to listen to the voicemail Jack had left. He’d headed into the office early to set up a desk and expected Rhys to show up at a more reasonable time. He had time for breakfast still. 

It took longer to find everything in Jack’s kitchen then it took to actually cook it. He sat at the island counter with his scrambled eggs, and HoloJack sat across from him. Rhys sighed and set down the fork. “You and I, we need to set out some ground rules.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you’re going to stay in here,” he tapped the side of his head, “then we need some rules. I appreciate everything you did, I really do, but I didn’t ask for you back, and now that I’m feeling better, I’m a bit angry about it.”

“Angry? Why?”

“Neither of you asked.”

“It’s for your good, cupcake. You’ll be safe.”

“And when Jack gets sick of me, what then? Will he just rip you back out and I’ll have to get used to being alone again?”

HoloJack put his hand over Rhys’ on the table. “Jack’s not going to get sick of you.”

“Jack hasn’t spent actual time with me. He calls when he wants something and that’s it. Working in his office? Being with him all day? It’s not going to last.”

“You’re selling yourself short, kiddo.”

“Am I?”

“Well, I’m certainly not sick of you, and I have spent almost my entire existence with you.”

Rhys snorted and picked up the fork again to push his eggs around on the plate. “You’re not Jack. You’re like.. my imaginary friend.”

“Oh yeah? Can an imaginary friend do this?” HoloJack said with a smirk before poking Rhys in the nose. 

“Oh my god, you are ridiculous.”

“Whatever it takes to make you smile, cupcake. Finish your breakfast.”

“This conversation isn’t over,” Rhys said as he loaded his fork with some eggs. He chewed them thoughtfully. “I still want to set some rules so I can have some measure of privacy.”

“You didn’t complain about the lack of privacy in the last month,” HoloJack pointed out.

“I barely remembered you were there unless something happened. That’s not really fair to use as evidence.”

HoloJack threw up his arms in defeat. “Fine, fine. We’ll work something out. Now hurry up or you’re going to be late!”


End file.
